American & British 410 Shotguns. Ronald Gabriel

410 (page 517), which is identical to one that recently surfaced in Scotland [6] (Photos 1 and 2). This reference, by the way, under section entitled “Odd Size”, recalls Askins’ reference to gender ambivalence! [9]

       The Cartridge and Gun

      Notwithstanding his contempt for the 410 bore, Askins discussed the ballistics of a 2-inch cartridge with 3/8-ounce shot for small wing game [9]. For quail shooting, he thought it best to use No. 8 shot with a full choke barrel. Of 150 pellets in the charge, 105 will be in the pattern at 40 yards with 0.85 pounds of energy per pellet delivered to the bird and a kill requires 2.25 pounds or three hits. For snipe, he recommended No. 10 shot giving 366 pellets in the charge, of which 329 will be in the pattern at 35 yards and 225 at 40 yards. Energy delivered to the bird, in this instance, is 0.54 pounds per pellet, and a kill requires 0.89 pounds or two hits. Interestingly, as he wrote this, the 1920s had been the decade when the 410-bore cartridge was dominated by the 2 1/2-inch case with 7/16-ounce shot for small game and 1/2-ounce shot for American skeet shooting, of which Askins was apparently oblivious [10].

      *“Dram” is a term of measurement equaling 27.34 grains (1/16 ounce) and originates from the black-powder days of the 19th century. The use of the term in modern smokeless cartridges is a misuse. For example, a 3 1/4-dram 12-gauge load contains less than one dram of smokeless powder. Joseph Manton’s typical 12-gauge shot shell load in 1800 consisted of 1-1/4 ounces of shot and 3-1/2 drams of blackpowder. Today, the use of “dram” is, in fact, “dram equivalent,” meaning the amount of smokeless powder used that is equivalent in propellant powder to the number of drams required of black-powder. For example, one dram of blackpowder performance significantly differs from that of 27.34 grains of smokeless powder. The term is of historical and aesthetic interest and should he honored by its retirement.

      **“Powder” has an extraordinarily simple history in comparison to the complex destruction wrought by its use in the good hands of the human species. By the 9th century, the Chinese were producing stable explosives and propellants from a combination of saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur [4]. Saltpeter, as potassium nitrate, created oxygen and charcoal and sulfur provided the fuel.¹The elimination of potassium salts, very corrosive to barrels, was accomplished by the nitration of glycerin in the 1840s. The result was nitroglycerin. Later other organic substances replaced glycerin such as wood pulp and cotton. When cotton, a cellulose, was treated with nitric and sulfuric acids, the result was nitrocellulose.² This propellant, a single base powder, is the primary American powder [5]. The British historically have tended to use a double base powder, a combination of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin, otherwise known as cordite. The British powders have been very corrosive on barrels. When combined with primers compounded of fulminate of mercury, which turned to salt when combusted, the result was deep pitting of barrels. A primary reason why so few vintage 410 British shotguns exist today is that the 410 cartridge was the last to eliminate mercury from the cartridge and did not do so routinely until after 1950.

      Photo 2: Action and stock of an English cane 410 smoothbore.

       Cameo photo

      O’Connor called the 2 1/2-inch cartridge the “sub-small bore” and the 3-inch case with 3/4-ounce shot, pioneered by Winchester-Western in the early 1930s, the “small bore” [7]. These cartridges were chambered by a wide variety of American 410s in the 1920s and 1930s.

      The American 410 bore in the late 1920s and 1930s included the premier double-barrel side-by-sides such as Parker, L.C. Smith, and Ithaca. Lesser quality but well-made doubles included Ithaca’s Grade A Lefever manufactured from 1934 to 1942, L.C. Smith’s Hunter Special, The Fulton manufactured from approximately 1930 to 1951, and the Marlin Model 90 over/under manufactured from 1939 to 1952.

      A number of cheaper 4l0s were developed prior to and subsequent to the classic doubles in boxlock, bolt, pump, hammer, or lever action and in various single- and double-barrel configurations built for the 2 1/2- and 3-inch cartridges. These included the famous but short-lived Marlin 410 lever action, the Remington 11/48, the Noble 410 semi-automatic, the Stevens over/under 410/22, and the Savage Model 99 takedown with interchangeable 410-smoothbore and 300-caliber rifle barrels.

      These also included the post-World War I Winchester Model 20, a boxlock hammer gun manufactured between 1919 and 1924; the Winchester Model 37 top-lever break-open action manufactured between 1936 and 1963; the Winchester Model 41 bolt-action single-shot 410 manufactured between 1920 and 1934; and the Iver Johnson Champion single-barrel hammer with auto ejectors manufactured from 1909 to 1956. Iver Johnson also made a Hercules-grade 410 double-barrel hammer-less boxlock from post-World War I to 1948. Savage-Stevens made a boxlock side-by-side double. Crescent made a serviceable back-action sidelock between the two world wars. In the 1930s, the premier single-barrel 410 was the Winchester Model 42 (for details of the above guns, see relevant chapters).

      Barrel chambers were available for the 2 1/2- and 3-inch cartridge. The latter cartridge proved to be very effective in the field for small wing and ground game.

      It is estimated that 4 to 10 percent of all shotguns sold in America in the middle third of the 20th century were 410 bore [7]. Eley, who currently supplies 60 percent of cartridges in Great Britain, reports that in a sample 3-year period in the 1970s, 6 percent of all cartridges sold were 410 bore, second to the 12 bore which was 87 percent.

      Keith, after many caustic comments such as its use to “bag game shows damn little intelligence”, concedes that the 410 can be used effectively under 30 yards for quail, dove, woodcock, snipe, and ruffled grouse if a 3-inch, 3/4-ounce cartridge is employed [11]. He patterned a 2 1/2-inch, 7 1/2-shot cartridge using the lever-action Marlin 410. At 40 yards, using a 30-inch pattern, three or more pellets would hit a pheasant or mallard. Using a Marlin over/under Model 90, with the same cartridge, at 40 yards, four or five pellets would hit a big bird. At 35 yards, there would be enough force to kill a grouse or a duck. He recommended a full choke for greater kill density and a No. 8 shot for a denser pattern.

      By the 1960s, a resurgence of interest in the 410 occurred in target shooting, and the 1970s saw a maturing development of interest in 410 collecting. In the 1980s, there was widespread use of the modern 410 for appropriate small wing and ground game by the sportsman shot gunner.

       Today

      William Hovey Smith, an American moviemaker, wrote enthusiastically about the hunting and ballistic capabilities of the 410 [12]. He, like other shotgun writers of the 1980s and early 1990s, extols the merits of the 410 as both a practical gun for close-range shooting (15 to 30 yards), producing minimal game destruction, as well as a challenging bore for the shooter who fancies a challenge. Smith’s first 410, as for so many of us, was the Stevens over/under 410/22. From this, he progressed to the Savage-Stevens side-by-side 410.

      Smith argued for modified and full chokes to minimize cripples and escaped but wounded game. The 3-inch cartridge with 11/16- to 3/4-ounce shot gives a maximum effective killing range of 25 yards for 8 shot and 30 yards for 7-1/2 shot. He uses the same ounce of shot with 5 or 6 shot for rabbit and squirrel that loads 117 and 151 pellets respectively. For quail, dove, or woodcock, he prefers 7-1/2, 8, or 9 shot that loads 234, 280, and 392 pellets respectively. Interestingly, the 392-pellet No. 9 shot 410 cartridge compares favorably with the 400-pellet No. 8 shot cartridge in bigger